Finally, after much time and talks about it, Rand'y's adventure ToS1-05 Path to Ambition is now available on RPGNow/DrivethruRPG (see the cleverly disguised linked...).

The adventure is the one that introduced me (and thus most of you) to the city-state of Onero. The adventure is a healthy mix of investigation, intrigue and exploration, enough to please most play-style. Onero can best be described as a "a Vegas-style" city. A place where every vice is available for the right price.

The city itself inspired Randy so much that as we talked more and more we kept adding additional pieces to the city. So much so that we decided a few things. First, we would write a book dedicated to the City itself, similar to what was done with Gytha about a year ago. Second, Randy would write a follow-up to "Path". Third, Randy would write the Onero book. Finally, after the playtest, I decided to extend the APL from 7 to 5-7 and finally 3-7 to allow more people a chance to play.

This adventure is big, clocking in at a huge 41 pages! However, there is are many handouts, and a lot of juicy secrets within!

Friday, November 27, 2015

I guess it is official now, I will be a guest at this year's Genghis Con in Denver! After skipping out in 2014 and 2015, I will be going back! I am really super excited and looking forward to it.

Even better, I got a kitchen pass AND my boss approved my vacation time. So I'm going MILE HI again! See my ugly mug!. The organization has changed a lot and I am very excited to see how it runs now.

I am planning to bring Saggakar adventures AND perhaps some Savage Worlds or Call of Cthulhu. I have a short window of time to decide what I want to do and send in my blurbs. I'm thinking of Doud where's my cart and something else... As to the Savage Worlds, I've been thinking of running something different. Savage Saggakar?

More Reaper Bones! When I opened these guys I wondered what I use them for. One of them got a head swap and became my new Anuka iconic miniature (see it here). The rest of them, I was stuck with... Then I thought about it a little and thought they would make awesome thugs for Frostgrave. So I painted them up and have been using them as such ever since. They really fit their bill well.

So you know, the one with the pink loin skirt belongs to Kitty's warband. The one with all the girl minis!

Thursday, November 26, 2015

On this Thanksgiving, here are a few terrain pieces I've been thinking of doing for a while. These small pieces are natural/ leather coverings and fur tanning harnesses. I wanted something that could be used in pretty much any terrain. The original idea was to use those as part of the Battle for Gytha storyline in NeoExodus. They make nice accent pieces and are extremely light. However, they are perfectly at home with my Legion of Everyblight, Rhulic, or even Trollbloods. Very versatile pieces of terrain.

The furs are make of glue-soaked paper (something school sent home) and the frames are made of wood matches. The base is foamcore. The result is light and extremely reusable. An alternative to the typical hedges found everywhere.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

I've been teasing you for months now, with trial covers, art previews, contents preview, tidbits and all kind of other goodies this book holds.

Truth be told, it's been a long time coming for me too. I could tell you of the long evenings, of the endless chats with artists, of the discussion with players, of the reviews, edits, and changes all the way to the last minute... Which is all true.

But that's not really what I want to say. I want to talk about the many people that got me to the finish line. (It is Thanksgiving tomorrow and I am very thankful to many people).

- Let me start with my wife and kids, who tolerated daddy spending his evening on his computer writing, reviewing or editing material for the book

- I must thank the many artists who provided pieces for the book. In particular Irene-C, Kaitlynn-P, James-H, William-H, Peter-S, and Roxann-S who did work for me.

- I must thank the many friends who offered to do work for me - usually for free - such as Neale's awesome fonts or Chad's redo of the Saggakar map that made it into the final work.

- I must thank the many players who offered ideas and suggestions, from the days when I started writing NeoExodus adventures through today.

- I must thank the other publishers who agreed to share their wisdom with me, such as LPJ, Steve-R, Henry-L, and Dale-MJr.

- I must thank the authors whose ideas helped me

- I must thank bloggers who commented and argued for/against elements of the setting.

In short, I am thankful for my gaming family, those with whom I rolled dice and those I meet and read about every day through social media, blogs or in person.

This book, moreso than all my previous efforts forced me to learn a number of new skills and push myself to learn and perfect new skills. Particularly in the area of page design and such.

I am really looking forward to writing more material for Saggakar. Right now, we have four-five adventures in the works, a location sourcebook, and a monster book. But things don't stop there... I will be doing some "extra-curricular" material in the new year. Will be a nice change in addition to a great idea overall.

As to where you can get this fun book, it is available in digital format (for now) on RPGNow.com. The print format should be available in the next few days as a print on demand product. If you purchase the book now, you will get the Limited Edition 2015 Edition cover with Korb instead of Awelara!

The green dragon is one dragon I like because of its versatility. As someone living in forests, it can be found in nearly every terrain. Not as powerful as the reds or savage as the blacks, they make great opponents to all creatures of the forest.

This mini is pretty cool, dynamic and fairly crisp. I'm glad it doesn't have the 4e nose-spike.

Monday, November 16, 2015

I won these guys in an auction. For their clothes, I used a simple leather theme. However, my favorite part of these guys is the skin. The base was green -like a goblin, but the over effect is one of "regular skin". The result is pretty nice. Makes me think of the Gremlins a little.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Togo sat playing his horn to the falling star, he remained behind to give his fellows and give that misguided woman a chance to redeem herself. A pair of colorful song birds perched on the horn. Togo smiled as the birds chirped, serving as his accompaniment. He knew he would soon be with the Lady-of-Song that long ago appeared in his dreams.

Togo would be in paradise surrounded by the most beautiful women and listen to the greatest symphonies.

Togo loved the Lady.

The Lady had not forgotten Togo.

Togo died happy.

Thus died Togo, my savage skald/ cleric of Shelyn who gave his own life to give a woman a chance at redemption. Togo was a great character, a half-orc dedicated to women. He used simple language which people assumed had deeper meaning. Togo was a charming fellow.

Oh well, even though there is never any true chance for memorable heroics to be remembered by the PFS campaign, but this one will remain for me. Togo is gone. The hero who saved the town from The Dragon's Demand died as a hero. A heroic death like that... That goes into the treasure vault of great role-playing moments.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

A few Paizo/Reaper miniatures for Frostgrave or Pathfinder. These models are all from the Reaper Bones II.

The first model is the iconic inquisitor. For her, I chose a drab scheme. Inquisitors are not flashy IMO and "do their job" above all. For accent, I gave her some pink highlights on her corset/ bodice. One of the coolest aspect (and one I will freely admit I did not really intend) is the face. The wide-brim hat she has darken her eyes, which you can see underneath.

Next is the iconic samurai. That is a class I learned to really like for its gimmicky abilities. I have not played my own character, Obata for months now. He was crippled by Boned-keep and I had to give him a new direction, which made him rather interesting. This mini is LARGE, with the sashimono. I tried to give him as much color as possible so he would be readily visible on the battlefield.

Finally, this guy is the mystic theurge. A simple mini in all. I gave him "Reed Richards hair": greying temples for effect. This guy appeared in Frostgrave already. He served as ActionMan's apprentice, but no more!

Friday, November 13, 2015

Well I have been working hard on the editing of the Player's Guide, using my microscope to try and find as many issues as I can. I am not yet done, but it is progressing nicely. I hope to be done sometime this weekend. And thus make the book available some time next week (a little ahead of my previous "Thanksgiving" date). I thought I would not like the layout, but it is not bad. I need to fix a few things still but it should not prevent you from enjoying the book.

Monday, November 9, 2015

This past weekend, I traveled to Chattanooga to attend Post-Apocalypticon. It was my first convention in Tennessee and one I was really looking forward to attending. For many reasons, including the premieres of two new Legacies adventures but also getting to meet and engage with new people.

I asked my children which of them wanted to attend the con and only ActionMan wanted to come. The girls both chose to stay home and go shopping with my wife. Meh, their loss. ActionMan and I got up very early, just after 6 AM and headed east on I-24. He and I joked and laughed all the way to East Tennessee.

We arrived pretty much on-time (euphemism to say "we were a tad late"). As there was no game we could join at the time...

For the first slot, we could not find ourselves a table: no players showed up for my event, all the tables of 5e were over-full and the PFS tables that could seat ActionMan were full. Oh well. So we set out to wait for the next slot.

I used that time to speak with Rob Bunn, playing a game of Mars Attack the three of us. ActionMan really enjoyed the game (particularly because he won).

Next, he and I went to have lunch at Steak n Shake. Now I will admit that the boy is truly my son. At six, he wolfed down a foot-long chili dog. Oh and he ate the fries as well. And more than half the strawberry shake we shared.

My son...

For the afternoon slot, I again had no players attend. I found a seat for ActionMan at a PFS table so he could play his second-level character, Red Eagle the rogue.

So I joined my first table for Traveller, ran by John Watts. I enjoyed it. The system itself was "all right" seriously nothing to get me jumping through hoops. However, the man is a great GM and our ship got into more comedic situation than should be placed in a single game slot. Our ship quickly became the "HMS Stereotypes" as I was Enrico, the shag-fur covered Italian who loved the ladies, under a drunken Russian captain... Everything was just a laugh.

I got to speak to Ryan and Shawn from Kyoudai Games. We spoke about being 3pp. It was quite interesting to speak with others about the game.

The next slot, John and his wife agreed to jump over to my table and I got to run a table "ToS1-06 And Everything Nice".

So I got to socialize for one, play one, and run one. In all, a good day indeed.

The Good

- All the events went on-time This is something I look at. The slots were clear and pre-determined. I love that. It's one of the things that annoyed me like crazy as nothing ever seems to happen quite right...

- Nice room The room was large and not over crowded. The con took place in an unoccupied store space in the Bradley Square Mall. A new for me. There was food, and a variety of access to things within easy walking distance.

- Good access to products Dicehead Games, the con's sponsor had a good selection of products for us gamers. I myself got a copy of the Undercity game/miniature set for Iron Kingdoms. I'll admit that the minis within are what I'm mostly interested in. A 40% off earned my immediate impulse purchase.

- Relaxed atmosphere The feel of the con was good, very relaxed, very friendly. Nothing felt rushed or stressed, yet everything happened.

- On-site organization I showed up and Kyle the organizer pointed me to a table. I set up and off I was. I want to point out Kyle's receptivity to suggestions as a BIG plus and a point of note. See the Improvable entry with the same name

- Attending guests The guests were very good guys. As I mentioned already, I got to play (twice) with John Watts and chatted extensively with the guys from Kyoudai, but there were also guys that had created the Sagaborn game, a Pathfinder-light that from their descriptions was a Warhammer Quest type of game. Very receptive and open to chat.

- Welcoming GMs The gm who ran ActionMan (I didn't get his name) through a PFS adventure was very welcoming.

The Improvable

- Attendance The attendance was lower than last year according to most people who attended both event. A lot of people pointed to another con happening back to back weekends (in Knoxville, less than a hundred miles away). Nothing any one person can do. Minor issue.

- On-Site organization This is a(nother) personal pet peeve of mine. As I stated ActionMan and I arrived very much last minute. For the afternoon slot, things fell into place and I expected a shout-out or something that did not happen. I told both Kyle and a guy from Dicehead (whose name escapes me) that it would be great to have start and muster times mentioned. Then for the evening slot, Kyle did exactly that. Major kudos and issue RESOLVED!

- Restrooms The room itself had no restroom directly on-site. They were available at the store (next door) and in the mall. Having a six year old and having to walk that far might've been a challenge. But it worked out fine. Minor issue.

Do I plan on going back?

Yes.

It is a small con with a lot of upside. I hope to return next year and see it grow. Hopefully have four full tables of Legacies players...

Sunday, November 8, 2015

In case you did not know, I ran a quick poll on the Legacies Facebook group about an alternative cover for the original release of the Player's Guide. After some internal discussions, I decided that this book will be available through the end of the year - hence the "2015 Edition".

The content will not change from the "Final" version that will be available at the same time (for those who do not want this cover). Regarding the content, I had an original layout that was pretty much the same as the one for our adventures. However, I was not overly satisfied with it.

So I headed to RPGNow and began looking for templates and page backgrounds. I could not find one that really provided what I wanted. I kept going back and forth on one design from LPJ and one from Fat Goblin, but neither fit what I wanted.

Seeing LPJ pop up on Facebook, I asked him if he could make available a preview for his only set of backgrounds that did not have a preview (it was set number 1.1).

What did he do? Sent me a free copy! I was shocked and pleased by this.

But it was NOT the best of the surprises... The best part was that one of the backgrounds was exactly what I wanted! So I went back into my document, promptly adding LPJ Design to my list of credits and reworked the background of the book.

Father of 3. Avid role player since 1984. Since 2000, I have been writing
role-playing material for events around the world.
I am the owner of FOE (First Ones Entertainment) and lead the Legacies Organized Play campaign. My other interests include history and miniature war-gaming.